Five more were wounded, including the driver and another passenger of the Jetta and the driver and passenger of the truck.

'We had no medical equipment with us … we didn't even have gloves,' Zawodny said.

Suddenly, a pair of doctors and a pair of nurses emerged from the backlog of traffic.

'Without any equipment I felt kind of helpless,' Zawodny said. 'The little kit I had didn't have near enough bandages for what was there.'

Along with Zawodny, they began to render what aid they could, prioritizing who needed care and which of the wounded should be the first to ride the LifeFlight helicopters that began hovering overhead.

'I couldn't have worked that scene alone before the first responders without the help of the doctors and nurses,' Zawodny said.

Soon enough a flood of vehicles arrived, ambulances from Tillamook and Washington County and Oregon State Police troopers.

'It seemed like forever, but I would imagine it was probably 15 minutes,' Zawodny said.

Zawodny and a rag-tag crew of bystanders who were pressed into service helped the emergency crews attach neck braces and load the injured into helicopters and ambulances.

About 45 minutes after he stopped, Zawodny got back into his truck, turned around and headed for home. 'I lost all interest in going to the coast at that point,' Zawodny said. 'I just wanted to head home and blow off some steam.'

The crash is still on Zawodny's mind, but he's got a support network at the fire house to lean on: two chiefs, a chaplain and other firefighters.

The bystanders and Good Samaritans who pitched in that day aren't so lucky.

'The ones I feel sorry for are the people I put to work,' Zawodny said, 'because they're probably going to have nightmares about this.'